By Rev. Rhina Ramos, ACM
Reverend Jorge Bautista is a prophet of our times. If the basic biblical definition of prophecy is transmitting a message from God, then Rev. Bautista’s testament of what justice looks like in the streets is exactly that: What God wants us to know about living out our faith.
Many of us watched in horror the moment when Rev. Bautista was hit directly on his face by a blast of pepper spray fired by an ICE agent at close range. Rev. Bautista did nothing to provoke this abusive exercise of force. It is not the first time he has been the victim of Homeland Security’s abuse of power. Another time at the border while rallying, Rev. Bautista was thrown to the ground on his face and held down and arrested by border patrol. All charges were dismissed because again, he hadn’t done anything to receive such mistreatment.
If you knew Jorge, as I call him, you would know he is not menacing or threatening. You would know he is loving and caring, and that around him, you feel protected and safe. During the LGBTQ traveling caravan of 2018, Jorge sponsored 14 trans women for them to be released from ICE detention. Jorge lives his life with such compassion that it is infuriating that someone could want to hurt him.
This is why the images of the attack on him this past week felt so personal. He was standing there to de-escalate a situation that had turned tense. I asked Jorge what he thought when the ICE agent came so close to him and was pointing at him. He says, “I thought he wasn’t going to do it. There was so much media in the place. I never thought he was going to dare and be documented doing this.” And then asked Jorge, “What did you think when it happened?” Jorge told me he was in shock, and then he couldn’t breathe, and he thought he was dying.
Rev. Bautista’s resolve comes from knowing that he is not alone. He says that the times that he has put himself on the line, he has no regrets because he knows he has a village behind him. And the village came through; colleagues immediately organized to buy him new clergy clothes, since the ones he wore at the rally had been ruined by pepper spray. The Presbyterian office for which he works part-time in San Francisco brought him dinner that day. Many have called him offering help and support, and people are showing up for him as he showed up for the immigrant community last week. God bless you, Jorge Bautista, for your heart of gold.
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